Kingdom Hearts: Beyond Time (sample)
by Anonymaton
Summary: On his way back from the Sleeping Worlds, Sora finds himself waylaid by a mysterious entity that drags him to a world of Darkness. After coming face to face with Xehanort, who was similarly abducted, the two meet a stranger who begins to share a tale spanning back to an age before the Heart of All Worlds existed.
1. Primer

**Good day to you all and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!**

 **Creativity: (blows Generic party horn)**

 **Author: So, for those of you who didn't find their way here from any of my previous publishes stories on the site, I'll give you the rundown!**

 **For my birthday, I decided to release a sampling of stories I've been working on for a while, all tying back to this big plan I have. One of these samplings will be the story that takes primary focus once A Very Bad Idea concludes in 2019. And which one that will be is going to be determined by you! YES, YOU!**

 **Read these samplings and then go to the poll on my profile to vote which story you wish to see take the stage next!**

 **Creativity: Oh, let's not forget the time limit!**

 **Author: Oh, right!**

 **This poll will last until the first Sunday of February (February 3** **rd** **, 2019) where we'll announce which story won the poll.**

 **See ya then!**


	2. Ch1 (sample)

**Hey everyone! So, this is yet another step in my grand plan of awesomeness! Also, this will be taking a form similar to New Dawn (Name might have changed by then, so just to say it's the symbiote story) As in that Sora and co will not be the focus of the story. In fact, they'll probably not be in it for 90% of the story. Sorry, that's just how it's rolling. Also, keyblades. Won't be in here either for 90%.**

 **Creativity: Wait what?! How can this be kingdom hearts without keyblades?!**

 **Author: You'll just have to read on and find out. Muahahhahahhah...**

 **Creativity: You know, this might actually be interesting.**

 **Author: You bet your burger it is!**

 **Creativity: NO! NOT THE BURGER!**

 **Author: Oh, boy.**

 **Anyway, just thought I'd clear that up. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Sora hurtled through the passage out of the Sleeping Worlds. His 'stuff' was taken care of, and now it was time to return to Yen Sid for whatever the next step of his training was. However, as he was reaching the exit, he saw something ahead. It was glowing an eerie purple color. He readied Kingdom Key just in case, but soon found that the purple glow was being emitted by a strange black stone with a strange symbol carved on it. It appeared to be a V with two lines on each side, parallel to the V lines. On the two lines closest to the V were small inward notches. There was also two 'eyebrows' above and below the lines. He hesitantly reached out to the stone which seemed harmless enough. However, the moment it touched his palm, purple and black energy erupted from the stone, gathering around Sora! He swung Kingdom Key, trying to fee himself, but found himself completely wrapped in the darkness.

The next thing he knew, he was hurtling down a purple and black tunnel of some sort!

"AAHHH! WHY CAN'T I EVER HAVE A NORMAL TRIP TO OTHER WORLDS?!" Sora cried out as he tumbled down this strange tunnel. After what felt like hours, he saw the tunnel appearing to end. The was a bright purple flash and he was thrown out of the tunnel, through the air and crashing face first on a dark, stone ground.

"Ow... Note to self. Gotta get some armor or padding."

Sora pushed himself up to get a good look at his surroundings. At first glance, he appeared to be in the realm of darkness. However, there were some easily noticed differences. For one, there was just as much purple as there was black. Most of the ground was black with purple light here and there. The sky was a slowly shifting black and purple as well. Then a bright purple flash came from behind Sora. He looked to see the stone that had brought him here floated down to him at eye level. He reached for it, only for it to sprout two purple wings made of energy. It flew around his head a few times before flying off towards a rocky outcropping. Then it stopped, seemingly waiting for him.

"So now I gotta chase this thing. Well at least it'll keep things interesting."

Sora started running after the stone, which kept a certain distance away. Where was it leading him?

Sora chased the charm for what felt like a couple of hours before it suddenly dropped down into a large crater. He jumped down and slid until he caught up. He saw the charm speed past a cluster of boulders and into a network of rockways. He ran around and came to a screeching halt.

Standing in front of him, back turned, was an old man with tanned skin and no hair. He was wearing a black waistcoat and white gloves. His hands were crossed behind his back.

"You!"

The man turned to reveal yellow eyes and a goatee. He smiled. It was Xehanort himself.

"Well, fancy meeting you here, boy. It seems I was not the only one to receive an invitation."

Sora summoned his keyblade and took up a fighting stance. Xehanort laughed.

"Come now, boy. I am not here to fight. I know you came here for the same reason that I did. You have a guide yourself, do you not?"

Sora looked confused. Then he saw a second charm floating around Xehanort.

"You got sucked into a portal too?"

"Hm. Indeed. Curious is not? That a representative of the guardians of light and seekers of darkness would both be summoned to this strange world."

"World? This is a world?"

Xehanort turned and looked to the sky.

"Yes indeed. Though it is not like any world I have ever seen. It is a world of pure darkness. Perhaps the only one! Indeed, we are privileged to visit such a land. But come now! We mustn't keep our host waiting! Oh, and put your blade away, boy. I assure you that I will not attempt to harm you in any way."

Sora gritted his teeth, but dismissed his keyblade. He didn't trust Xehanort, but he had a feeling that whoever had brought them here didn't want them to kill each other before they got there. The two adversaries resumed their path and kept walking. The charms slowed down for the two of them. Sora couldn't help but keep glancing at Xehanort, half expecting him to summon his keyblade and attack. Yet Xehanort did nothing. He just kept walking.

They walked for what felt like hours before the came to a strange place. It was a perfectly round island with a sort of sand pit in the center. Surrounding the sandpit was a stone disk set into the ground. The disk had a channel with purple liquid flowing through it. There were four pillars set on the outside disk. Two of them were empty, but two of them had spheres with the same insignia as the stones. the stones each flew to the empty pillars and landed in small holders. Their wings vanished and they stopped glowing.

Sora and Xehanort approached the sand pit to see a figure wearing a black cloak that was heavily torn at the bottom and had holes around it. They were sitting in the in the sand pit. It motioned for them to sit. The two them complied.

All was silent before Sora spoke up.

"Okay, so why did you bring us here?"

The figure shifted, then spoke.

"Tell me. What is the legend of the X-Blade?"

Xehanort was quick to answer.

"In ancient times, people believed that light was a gift from an unseen land by the name of Kingdom Hearts. But Kingdom Hearts was guarded by its counterpart, the X-blade. Many warriors vied for that precious light, and so began a violent clash known as the keyblade war. The resulting conflict shattered the X-blade into twenty pieces. Seven of light and thirteen of darkness. And the one true Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by the darkness, never to surface again."

Sora continued the story.

"The world was divided into the many we know today and darkness ran rampant. But the light survived in the hearts of children. They rebuilt the worlds as we know them today."

The figure bowed its head.

"Much has changed through the passage of time. Much of the legend is false, merely used to explain that which is unknown. However, the heart of the story is true. The X-blade was shattered, the world was divided into the worlds we know today, and light within children rebuilt those worlds. However, there is much from before. Here, you will hear not the history of the keyblade, but the history of light, darkness, magic and the nature of Kingdom Hearts itself. It all began long, long ago. Long before the X-blade or Kingdom Hearts was created. A time lost to history."

* * *

 _"Once long ago, there was a race of beings who were born with wings and the power of magic. They lived peaceful lives and used their powers to bring life to the world around them. Each was blessed with an element of magic, gifted to them by a spring of magic. There were six springs. Fire, water, air, earth, light and darkness. Each was given one element, only one. Then one day, they began to disappear. One by one, they vanished, believed to never to be seen again. Eventually there was none left._

 _In their absence, man came into being. They grew, learned, built and prospered. They built cities that reached the sky and learned to manipulate the energies of magic in limitless ways. And still they continued. They explored, carving their way into the mountains and underground. One day however, they discovered something that would change them forever._

 _They found the winged people, asleep within the mountains. None knew how they came to be there, not even the winged ones. They awoke and emerged from the mountains to see the new world before them. They explored and learned of how the land had changed. They were thrilled to learn and to teach what they knew. However, as time went on, more and more humans became afraid of the winged people. Of their powers, of their strength. Fear became resentment, then anger. Finally, they lashed out._

 _The first attack was swift. Man used the weapons they had built to deal a mortal blow to the winged ones. The few that escaped the first attack sought out their own and shared the news. And so, began a war that ravaged the land for many years. Finally, when it became clear that neither side would back down, the winged ones made a choice to create their own world._

 _The strongest of each element used their strength to tear the elemental springs from the land and drew so much power from them that they molded a floating city with the springs continuously increasing the land mass for all eternity. Once the task was complete, they used the last of their strength to warp time and space around the city and created a new dimension for the winged people. The six strongest formed a council to lead the winged people forward, while humanity began to rebuild their world, safe in the knowledge that the world belonged to them._

 _And here, is where our story truly begins."_

* * *

 **PREQUEL ORIGIN STORY! YAY!**

 **Creativity: I still think there needs to be keyblades.**

 **Author: Well this is my project so deal with it.**

 **So yeah. I hope this will prove interesting. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks of this stuff or if everyone else just thinks it's a stupid idea. Whatever. This one's gonna be good.**


	3. Ch2(sample)

**Welcome back to** _ **A Time Beyond Time**_ **everyone! I hope you'll all enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it!**

 **Creativity: I still say there needs to be keyblades.**

 **Author: I already told why it isn't happening. I want to write an origin story for the X-blade and kingdom hearts itself. I mean the big floating heart moon thing.**

 **Creativity: The people reading this are still going to be annoyed and ask for keyblades.**

 **Author: I will button you or use my awesome mind powers to turn you into a llama if you don't shut up.**

 **Creativity: Shutting up sir! I'll start refilling the B.T.I. sir!**

 **Author: Good man. Now where were we?**

 **So yeah. No matter how much you cry or beg, I will not bring in keyblades. Not until much, much later anyway. So don't get angry. I warned you about this literally before the first chapter really started.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Oh come on! We're gonna be late!"

A boy, seemingling in his late teens and wearing black and purple clothing with jet black hair and purple eyes, called exasperatedly to another teen, female, who was lounging by a fountain. The boy had four others with him, all wearing different colour schemes of clothing. The girl lounging by the fountain was wearing blue and silver clothing and had blue hair that went just past her shoulders, as well as small silver earrings.

"Hurry up Leith! If we're late again, master Volcan is going to blow his lid again!"

The girl reluctantly got up and stretched.

"Oh, fine! You just want to show off at sparring practice again, Ryo!"

Ryo just rolled his eyes.

"No, that's Phoenix."

Another girl, this one wearing red and gold with short red hair with tips dyed charcoal gray, huffed indignantly.

"Oh sure. I just want to prove I know my way around a fight. Right Terrek?"

Terrek, the tallest and burliest of the group and wearing green, brown and grey with dirty blond hair crossed his arms.

"How exactly is that not showing off?"

Phoenix just huffed again and looked away. Another boy piped up. He was wearing bright grey and bright yellow clothes and had a wild mane of light grey hair.

"Look, we're just wasting time here! Let's go go go!"

The final member of the group, a girl with black hair, white and gold clothes and gold eyes shook her head.

"You're always in a rush aren't you. Seriously Tempest, can't you just sit still for a single moment?"

Tempest just shook his head, causing a breeze while doing so.

"Nope! Can't! Always need to move! Unless it's naptime! You'd think you'd know that after all this time, Shiori!"

Shiori just pinched her nose and sighed.

"Lets just go."

Wings of different sizes and shapes materialized in bursts of different colored light from their backs and they took flight to a large dome like structure. They hurried inside and quickly joined a few other groups who were standing at rapt attention around a large square sandpit. There was a sudden burst of fire and a man with massive, red draconic wings landed on the opposite side of the sandpit from the assembled group. The wings disappeared in burst of fire.

"Anyone late this time? The usual suspects? No? Good! First match, Lieth and Tempest!"

Lieth groaned as she stepped into the sandpit. She walked to the left side while Tempest jogged to the right. Once there, he swiped his hands backward in a flourish. A burst of wind and lightning surrounded his hands, forming claw like weapons. They were like gauntlets that also extended sideways from his arm and had three, two-foot-long blades attached to them and a dome on top of his arm with a yellow gem near the front. He hopped from one foot to the other in anticipation, holding one claw up in preparation to guard.

Leith performed a more graceful hand movement, raising her hand from the ground upward. A burst of water and ice followed her movement, creating a dual sided, double edged blade with a blue wire wrapped hilt, gold disk guards. The blades were coloured like ice. She spun the weapon a few times above her head before settling into a relaxed stance, the weapon held behind her with her empty hand held outstretched.

"Begin!"

Tempest struck the second the word was given, sweeping forward with small tornadoes around his feet, allowing him to glide over the sandpit with ease. He raised one of his claws and began firing bolts of lightning from the gem. Lieth countered easily, swiping her hand up and creating an ice wall between her and Tempest. She then thrust her arm forward, launching the ice wall straight at him! Tempest merely created a gust of wind to launch him over the incoming attack and started to swing his claws as fast as he could, which was pretty fast. Leith spun her weapon in front of her, creating a whirlpool in front of her which became lances made of water. She began to manipulate them into blocking Tempest's strikes while she held her hand out behind her, creating hail stones the size of watermelons! Once she felt she had enough, she swung her hand forward, two fingers pointing at Tempest. The massive supply of hailstones hurtled past her, straight at Tempest. He countered by using both his claws to unleash a barrage of lightning that blew up the hailstones before they could touch him. With an opening provided, Leith lunged forward, spinning her weapon beside her. She made for a stab, only to have Tempest bring his claws together to block with ease. He then pushed her back and created a miniature hurricane around him which started to pick up the sand around him. Lieth covered her eyes, trying to get a bearing on where Tempest was. Then she had an idea. She created a bubble of water around herself, clearing the sand from her eyes and her surrounding area. She then sent a wave rushing out in a pulse around her. The hurricane cleared to reveal a soaking wet Tempest. Lieth leapt into the air, creating a wave underneath her which carried her straight towards Tempest. She landed and levelled her blade at Tempest's throat.

"This match goes to Lieth! Well done! You haven't been able to beat him for weeks!"

Lieth smirked a little and helped Tempest to his feet.

"Aw man! Ah well, I'll get you next time!"

Lieth's smirk widened.

"Yeah. Sure you will."

Tempest suddenly pointed upward and struck a dramatic, but ultimately silly pose.

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"

Lieth just groaned and dragged Tempest out of the sandpit. Most of the group just shook their heads at Tempest's antics. Volcan just rolled his eyes and called out the next match. It was between a fire user and an air user. The fire user was a little unique in that his fire was blue. The match was a quick one. The air user used wind to circle around her opponent as fast as she could before striking them with lightning and moving in the finishing blow.

"Phoenix and Shiori!"

The two girls each walked to opposing sides of the sandpit and summoned their weapons. Shiori's was a katana with a gold and uncharacteristically long blade, perhaps a half foot longer than standard. She swiped it in front of her before spinning it into a backhand grip and holding it in front of her.

Phoenix's weapon was a red and gold halberd. It had a red shaft with golden flames and a golden axe blade, whose sharpened edge was red. There was a spear point on either side of the weapon. She twirled it expertly and ferociously in front of her before slamming it into the ground. She then pried it out and settled into a fighting stance, the halberd pointed slightly towards the ground.

"Begin!"

Both girls rushed forward. Phoenix left a trail of fire blazing from her feet while coating the blade of her halberd in flame. She swung it hard in an uppercut strike, launching an arc of flame ahead of her as she leapt into the air, surrounding herself in fire as she went. Shiori sidestepped the projectile attack and swung her blade up, causing a pillar of golden energy to rise from the ground, colliding with Phoenix. Phoenix took this in stride and allowed the pillar to launch her backwards, flipping as she went. Shiori took this opportunity to launch a volley of gold orbs from her palm. Phoenix responded with a firewall, which she used as cover to launch of barrage of fireballs. She then burst through the firewall, engulfed in flames herself! Shiori responded by unleashing a pulse of gold energy which destroyed all the fireballs, but didn't stop Phoenix as she brought back her halberd for a heavy blow. Shiori held her sword in front of her and coated it in gold energy, creating a blade of energy around the sword. She twirled it a few times before meeting Phoenix's strike with her own. The energy from both strikes cancelled each other out. Phoenix smirked and suddenly twisted her halberd away and brought the spear point on the opposite side of the weapon straight up to Shiori's throat.

"Phoenix wins!"

Phoenix dismissed her halberd and walked back to the group with a smug look on her face. Terrek crossed his arms and lightly elbowed her, causing her to glare at him for a moment before turning to watch the next match.

This one lasted much longer. Both combatants preferred ranged attacks and as such, they had enough time between volleys to create defences as well. It ended when one of them created a fog between them and used it to get in close for a winning blow.

" Ryo and Terrek!"

The two friends stepped into the sandpit and summoned their weapons. Ryo's weapon wasn't as flashy as the rest of his circle of friends, sans Shiori. It was a black and purple single edged sword with a two-handed grip and a guard similar to that of a rapier or a cutlass. The blade was much wider closest to the handle and slimmed the closer it got to the point. He flourished it a few times before holding it high and pointed off to his right while bending his other arm so that his palm was facing the ground. Terrek's weapon was a club/axe hybrid, that seemed to be composed of overgrown wood and stone. The weapon was enormous and appeared similar to a sword, except for the fact that it had no sharp edge, save for the massive two-sided axe blade at the top. He hefted the weapon over his shoulder and slammed it into the ground before resting it on his shoulder again.

"Begin!"

Terrek made the first move, swinging his weapon in an uppercut strike that dug through the earth, causing a wave of earth to hurtle straight at Ryo. Ryo responded by creating an orb of purple energy in his hand and slamming it into the ground, using the force to catapult himself over the shockwave. He spun his sword to a backhand grip and began spinning like a top while careening downwards towards Terrek. Terrek blocked the incoming attack with the flat of his blade, hands on either side of his weapon. He then stomped on the ground, causing a pillar of earth to rise out of the ground and launch Ryo away. Ryo landed and spun his sword back to it's normal grip and held it in front of him. His eyes flashed purple and the blade become encompassed in a similar light. He began launch blasts from his sword with every swing, only for Terrek to charge him, smashing through the blasts with heavy strikes as he closed in fast. Ryo smirked and channelled purple energy into his hand, causing it to start glowing intensely. He pulled back his fist and let loose with a straight punch into Terrek's fast closing attack. The blast created a plume of smoke, in which there were several purple flashes and a yelp of surprise. When the smoke cleared, Ryo was standing behind Terrek with his sword held to the back of his neck.

"Ryo wins!"

Ryo smirked a little as they walked back to their friends.

"I guess it's forty-seven to fifty-six now?"

Terrek smirked in return.

"Of course. In my favour. And you only won because of your trickery."

Ryo just elbowed Terrek.

"Yeah, because I can just shove you around any time I like. While I'm at it, I think I'll go tell Volcan that his entrances are a little weak."

The two of them laughed a little at Ryo's joke at Volcan's expense before they made it back to their group. Phoenix was still smiling when they got back.

"So, it's forty seven to fifty six now?"

"Don't even start." Terrek jokingly warned. Shiori noticed that Ryo was rubbing his wrist a little.

"You okay?" She asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"Ah, it's fine. It's just that gathering enough energy to counter a swing from Terrek can leave you with a bruise or two. It'll go away in a bit."

Leith shook her head.

"That was very risky of you. I know that you're good and that Terrek wouldn't have killed you with that hit, but you still could have really injured yourself."

Tempest was just bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Oh man! That was awesome! I should try to do something similar with lightning! What do you think, Leith?"

Leith just shook her head.

"I don't know why I put myself through this."

Ryo just smiled and grabbed them by the shoulders.

"Because we're friends! As annoying as we may be at times, we wouldn't just upend that, would we?"

Lieth just rolled her eyes, but smiled a little.

"Sure, whatever."

Everyone just smiled. Then Volcan started yelling. Again.

"Okay, we're done for the day! Everyone clear out!"

Everyone left in a hurry. No one was eager to stick around when Volcan was teaching. The six friends took off to one of their favourite hangout spots. It was by a large pond with a miniature waterfall. They spent most of their evenings here. It was often quiet and they could laugh, spar, swim, compete over whatever they were arguing about that day, complain to each other, or just hang out.

"So, you guys feeling ready for the tournament next week?" Phoenix asked. Tempest was the first to respond.

"Oh yeah! Bring 'em on! I'll give 'em a taste of raw air power!"

Lieth rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, you'll blow everyone out of their seats... Did I just pun?"

Shiori giggled a little.

"You seem a little thunderstruck by that."

Lieth groaned.

"Oh no, don't start, please. The moment someone starts than everyone just piles on."

Ryo started smiling.

"Well it's so easy to. I mean seriously, it's a breeze!"

Lieth let her face fall into her hand.

"What have I done?" She mumbled. Phoenix started grinning.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure it'll blow over pretty quickly."

Lieth's head shot up, a very angry expression on her face.

"One more wind pun and I swear I will bring a downpour down on everyone!"

Terrek just shook his head.

"No need to be so stormy over a few puns."

Lieth's mouth dropped open, completely at a loss for words. He had said that with a completely straight face, not so much as a twitch in the corner of his mouth. Was he punning, or was he just ignorant to the pun? Everyone else was just snickering and waiting for Lieth to get her bearings. Finally, she gave up and sat back down, grumbling. Everyone burst out laughing before Ryo got control of his fits.

"Okay, no more. Even I know where to draw the line."

Everyone agreed in their own time, as they all took varying degrees of time for the giggles to subside. Once they had all stopped laughing, they sat down on the ground and watched as the sun started to set. They sat for several minutes before they all went their separate ways for the evening.

It was the end to a perfect day.

* * *

 **So, what does everyone think so far? I think it's pretty good.**

 **Creativity: I still want keyblades!**

 **Author: Oh fine! (Closes eyes for a moment. Creativity transforms into kingdom key.)**

 **Creativity: THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!**

 **Author: DEAL WITH IT! I WARNED YOU!**

 **Sorry about that. So, I thought I'd do some more character and world descriptions down here because why not?**

 **So, Ryo's name is based on the word i** **kiryō** **, which is just something I found when trying to find translations for "Wraith". If I'm wrong, feel free to let me know, with a source. Won't even think about it if it's without a source. Anyway, if you haven't figured it out already, Ryo controls darkness. You already know what color his clothes are. He wears a black tunic with a hood that has purple stitching. His pants are also black with purple stitching as well as decorative purple patterns. He also has black boots. His wings are also draconic, but not so much as Volcan's. His are slightly longer but not as wide.**

 **Phoenix has control over fire. You already know what she looks like. Her clothes are red with gold fire patterns sewn in and her boots have stylized gold flames coming off the top. She will be due for a different look later. Anyway, she's the fighter of the group, always looking for a challenge. She has a bit of a competitive rivalry with Terrek and** **Ryō** **. She has red and gold phoenix wings.**

 **Leith's name is based of the river from Greek mythology, though possibly not spelt the same. Pronunciation is the same though. The only connection is water. She's more laid back than the rest of them, with the exception of puns. She can't stand them. Her relationship with Tempest is like that of an exceptionally annoying younger sibling that you still care for. She has power over water, if that wasn't already clear. her clothes are a little more flowy and she doesn't wear shoes of any kind. Her wings are draconic and more elegant.**

 **Tempest is best described as wily and impulsive, with a heart of gold. He's always rushing everything and will blindly walk into anything for a friend. His power lies in air, which I decided to include lightning in because this is my story. He wears a sleeveless tunic and short pants. He wears cloth tied around his feet instead of shoes. His wings are those of a falcon.**

 **Terrek is the most level headed of the group. He keeps his hair short and tied back. If it wasn't obvious from his color scheme and his weapon, he controls the element of earth. He doesn't talk as much as his more vocal friends but isn't one to shy away from a joke. He does talk a fair bit, just much less, compared to his friends. his wings are owl's wings.**

 **Shiori is best described as being nice for the sake of being nice. She isn't boastful and handles everything in a very calm manner, unless you've really managed to tick her off. She controls light and uses her element the with the greatest precision out of all her friends. She's a mediator by nature. Her tunic is white with gold on her shoulders and sides. She also wears white fingerless gloves that I forgot to mention earlier. She has white wings with a pattern of gold feathers in them**

 **Whew! That was a long one! Well, seeing as this really starts my story. Next chapter, we get closer to the "Tournament." Oooooh, what could it be... Who knows? Oh that's right! Me! Yay me!**

 **Okay, enough gloating! See you next week!**


	4. Ch3(sample)

**Hello, and welcome to the knee slapper comedy club! Tonight's opening act is...**

 **Author: Creativity, may I kindly inquire as to why you have used the chair to turn the studio into a comedy club? And may I also ask why you are waiting in the wings?**

 **Creativity: Oh, well... You were out for that dinner with the studio budget manager and I thought we could do with some entertainment while we waited to begin work again...**

 **Author: Do I have to enact Amendment 7 again?**

 **Creativity: No sir! Please no!**

 **Author: Then you better start working double time to make up for all that wasted time.**

 **Creativity: Of course sir! Double time, sir!**

 **Author: GET TO IT!**

 **Sorry about that. So, we approach the tournament. Slowly but surely, we approach it. Oh, it shall be glorious! So, who's enjoying this so far?**

 **(Cricket noises.)**

 **Please read this, it's key to my master plan. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ryo and his friends all sat in a massive, open air arena that had massive wood columns, crisscrossing beams of steel, spires of rock that were constantly sparking with electricity, water and magma pools, spires of ice, trees, and several yellow/white and black/purple crystals within it. They were bunched together with many other people who were cheering loudly as six men and women flew down to a central disk. They were all wearing similar robes with the only difference being color scheme. They bowed to the audience and raised their hands in a call for silence.

"Welcome everyone, to this year's Sanctum tournament!"

The crowd burst into deafening applause.

"Over the course of the next three days, you shall bear witness to this year's students great test to prove themselves worthy of studying within the Sanctum! The victors from each element will earn themselves the right to enter the Sanctum and will bear the responsibility that the knowledge they gain within will be coupled with. Without further ado, let the tournament begin!"

The crowd erupted in cheers again. The friends looked at each other and smiled. This was it. They had been training for this since they had been five years old. It all built up to this moment. The Sanctum held special knowledge that only the best were allowed to study. Only one student from each element was permitted to enter per year.

And this year they were going to all take that prize.

The friends got up and made their way to their separate waiting areas for their respective elements. The tournament always opened with light having the first match, followed by water, then fire, air, earth and finally darkness. The reasoning behind light going first and darkness going last was to represent the twenty-four-hour daily cycle. The day begins with light and ends with darkness.

Ryo could hear the crowd cheering wildly. He struggled through the wall of fellow darkness wielders to the front of their designated, field level seating area. The first match was about to begin. He couldn't see Shiori in there. Instead, there was a brown-haired girl with a white and gold, double sided naginata while there was a sandy haired boy on the other side of the field, holding a white and gold bow with a gold string and a blade attached to the top front half of the bow. he drew the string back, causing a golden arrow to materialize, ready for firing.

"Begin!"

The girl swung the naginata horizontally in front of her, launching crescent of gold energy at the bowman. The bowman just fired the arrow and followed it up with another one. He then sprouted his wings and flew to a vantage point atop one of the wooden columns and began to unleash a hail of arrows. The girl spun her naginata at a feverish pace, slowly advancing on the column. The weapon had begun to glow brightly as the light arrows kept striking it. She opened her mouth in a silent bellow and unleashed a disk-shaped blast from her still spinning weapon. The arrows smashed harmlessly against it as it rapidly approached the bowman.

Knowing there wasn't enough time to draw his wings again, he simply leapt from the column, going into a headfirst dive. He drew back his bowstring, which created three arrows that were glowing differently from his previous ones. He released the arrows, which flew in three different directions before changing direction and homing in on the girl!

She didn't seem fazed as she slammed the naginata into the ground, creating a white and gold energy shield. After the arrows broke upon the shield, she spread her wings and flew straight up before looping backwards and hurtling back down at the bowman like a bird of prey going for a stoop. She began glowing with energy as she careened towards the ground. The bowman saw her coming and drew back the bowstring, this arrow was glowing phenomenally bright. He released it short seconds before she would collide with him. The arrow shot off like a comet, smashing into the girl and robbing most of her momentum. She still had the last laugh however as she landed, swept the bowman's feet out from under him with her own foot and levelled the naginata at his throat.

"Victory goes to Lyn!"

The girl, Lyn, helped her opponent to his feet and bowed before waving to the crowd. The two departed through the door they came through and the next pair came out. Ryo watched eagerly, hoping to see Leith. She had been keeping lots of secrets while she had been training, not wanting anyone to know what sort of techniques and moves she had come up with for the tournament. He smiled as he saw that Leith was indeed the first one up. Her opponent was another girl who had a blue and silver chain scythe. Ryo frowned. Those fighters were crafty and occasionally underhanded. They preferred to place their opponents in unwinnable situations and were very good at getting out of the latter themselves. Leith was going to have her work cut out for her.

The two made their way to their respective sides of the field and readied their weapons.

"Fight!"

Leith immediately launched two waves of ice at her opponent, who began to spin her chain scythe, creating a whirlpool around her, which sheared through the waves before she slammed the scythe blade into the ground, causing the whirlpool to surge forward, towards Leith. Leith swung her hand up, creating an ice pillar that lifted her out of harms way. She leapt onto one of the steel beams and leapt again to a wood column. She began spinning her weapon above her head, creating large hailstones. Soon she had easily two dozen orbiting around her, which she launched straight at her opponent. They created a wave underneath themselves and used it to surf out of the way of the incoming barrage.

Once Leith was out of ammunition, they surrounded the scythe blade with a thin layer of water which froze into a circular blade of ice! Whirling around and swinging the massive blade around, they cut the column clean through and sent it toppling over. Leith leapt away onto a steel beam. She cast her eyes around, looking for an advantage. Her opponent was think several steps ahead. She needed something to provide cover and disrupt that forethought. She saw a magma pool nearby and smirked. She sent a wave crashing over the pool, causing a colossal plume of steam spread over the battlefield. She then slipped into a sweet spot in the steam where she could see above her, but you couldn't see her.

She waited and smirked again when she saw the chain scythe fly out of the cloud and anchor into a column. Her opponent followed close behind. Leith then looked down where she could see faint yellow sparks. She swiftly launched a thin stream of water from a nearby pool that struck the sparks and then shot straight up towards her opponent.

The moment the water hit it's marking, her opponent yelped in pain. Leith leapt out of hiding and rested one of the blades on her opponent's shoulder.

"Victory goes to Leith! An amazing display of strategy!"

Leith waved to the crowd while her opponent sulked for a moment before bowing. Leith returned the bow and they left the arena.

Ryo was clapping so hard his hands we bright red. He hadn't seen a trick like that in all the tournaments he'd watched! He'd have to talk to Leith about that one.

A few men and women descended from the areas near the top of the stadium, all wearing a sort of uniform. They set about repairing the arena from the particularly destructive battle. Once it was back to it's original condition, they called the next pair of combatants. The next pair seemed quite interesting.

The first one was a boy with a broadsword and round shield. Both were red and gold. The shield had a dark red gem set in the center of it. The sword's blade was fashioned after several tongues of flame, intertwined.

The other boy had red and gold knives in each hand. The knives were more like machetes and were wide on the flat side. They were double edged, but curved back the way a single edged blade would. He smirked and twirled them in his hand, seeming pretty cocky.

Ryo was interested in the shield. He hadn't ever actually seen this style of shield before but he had heard of it. If what he heard was true, the knife user was going to be in for a nasty surprise.

The two faced each other and took up a ready stance.

"Fight!"

The knife user immediately charged, launching arcs of fire from his knives. The knight simply raised his shield and let the blasts connect, each one dissipating with ease. The knife user spun his left-handed weapon into a reverse grip and made a heavy swing. The knight once again used his shield, blocking the attack with ease. The knife user began to let loose with quick, powerful swings. The shield just continued to absorb the punishment. The knife user grinned widely and backed up, swinging both his arms upward. The ground beneath the knight began to glow red. Realizing what was happening, the knight did something unexpected.

He leapt up and placed his shield beneath him. the ground erupted in a geyser of flame, launching the knight into the air, although he was completely unharmed. As he began to plummet back down, he slashed his sword a few times, launching his own arcs of flame. Once he was on the ground, he rushed forward and slammed his shield against the knife wielder's knives. Then the gem began to glow bright red. Realizing too late his mistake, the knife wielder tried to get away. However, it was not to be as a colossal blast of roaring flame erupted from the shield like lava from a volcano! The shear force of the blast launched the knife wielder straight into the wall of the arena and the heat was felt by almost everyone in the arena!

"Victory goes to Magnus!"

Magnus bowed to his opponent, who was still stumbling around from the attack and had to be guided out by Magnus.

Ryo shook his head. The knife user had dug his own grave. The shield was able to absorb energy, be it thermal, kinetic or otherwise and unleash it at it's wielders will. He only needed to get enough energy stored up for a one hit KO.

He turned and watched as the first competitors for air entered the battlefield. He grinned as he saw Tempest coming out, his claws were sparking with energy and he was eagerly hopping from one foot to the other in anticipation. His opponent was a girl who had twin boomerangs with sharp, serrated edges.

Tempest took his position and waved his hand in a 'bring it on' manner.

"Fight!"

Tempest immediately surged forward using his tornado on feet trick. The girl raised her boomerangs and charged them with electricity. Tempest swiped his claws, throwing a powerful gust of wind at her. The girl used her own tornado to dance away from gust and launched one of her boomerangs at him. Tempest weaved his way around the spinning projectile and darted in, both claws poised to strike. The girl held out her hand to the side and a disk of electricity formed in front of it. She swung it forward, forcing Tempest backwards. She held it out in front of her and fired a beam of electricity which Tempest nimbly sidestepped. He then flew up to a column using his wings, then began to unleash a storm of electricity. his opponent caught her boomerang and began swinging them back and forth, blocking the lightning blasts. She scowled and launched both boomerangs at Tempest, who just grinned and leapt off, used a burst of air to launch himself forward and blasted her with electricity. She was sent hurtling backwards and found herself on the sharp end of Tempest's claws.

"Victory goes to Tempest!"

Ryo smiled and clapped for his friend. He clapped lighter since his hands were still sore from clapping for Leith, but he would have clapped harder if he could. Tempest did everything as fast as possible and fighting was no exception. There was a bit of a stereotype that air wielders were impatient to one degree or another, which Tempest seemed to be a living embodiment of. He had frustrated his opponent and got her to make the mistake of foregoing all her defence for one bout of offence.

Next up was the first earth match of the day. Sadly, Terrek wasn't first up. Instead, it was two boys. The contrast in size was staggering. One was taller and more beefy, while the other was short and scrawny. The shorter one had twin hatchets that looked overgrown with lichen. The large one had a gigantic, single bladed axe.

"Begin!"

The large one made the first move, launching himself into the air using a springboard tactic. As he reached the arc of his leap, he raised the axe high above his head in preparation for a meteor strike. The small one began launching chunks of rock at the large one as he came hurtling down, but none of them found their mark. The small one leapt out of the way as the large one crashed down on where he had been moments ago, slamming the axe in with enough force to create a shockwave that launched the small one a fair distance. He pried the axe free and turned to follow up, but found that he seemed to be stuck. The small one had turned the ground in that area incredibly soft, making it like very deep, sticky mud!

The large one snarled and slammed the shaft of his axe into the soupy muck, creating a shockwave that launched him clear of the mudpit. He immediately charged the small one and began swinging his axe in wide attacks. The small one just leapt and darted around the strikes, making quick hits with his hatchets before speeding out of danger.

Suddenly, he slammed both his hatchets into the ground, creating a fissure. The large one's foot went in and caused him to lose balance. The small one jumped up and kicked him in the back of the head before bringing his hatchet blades to rest on either side of the large one's shoulders.

"Victory goes to Sander! Quick thinking wins this bout!"

Ryo applauded the victor and looked over at the board. He was up next against a girl named Dusk. They walked out onto the field and took up their positions. Ryo summoned his sword while his opponent summoned her weapons. They were black, full hand gauntlets with purple lines along the sides and a purple crystal imbedded in the back of each hand. Ryo narrowed his eyes. This style of fighter often used element powered strikes and were exceptionally gifted at conjuring elemental shields.

"Begin!"

Ryo immediately opened with an uppercut strike that launched a crescent of purple energy at Dusk. She merely smashed through it with a punch and launched two purple orbs from her fists. Ryo slashed the first one away and leapt over the second one, charging up his own sphere in his left hand. He spun and launched it just ahead of Dusk, forcing her to slow down to avoid his attack. Ryo sprouted his wings and flew up to a pillar, then jumped to another pillar before dismissing his sword and charging up two spheres in either hand and launching them at Dusk. She saw the attack coming and backflipped out of the way before bringing her hands together in front of her and unleashing a concentrated beam straight at him!

He jumped out of the way of the attack and began channeling dark energy into his right hand. He resummoned his blade into his right hand and it immediately began glowing with dark energy from his hand. He spun it into a reverse grip and charged forward. Dusk saw him coming and reared back a fist, the gem glowing with power. The two blows met and caused a massive pulse of dark energy outward from the epicenter. He dropped down and kicked her legs out from underneath her, but she recovered and launched a blast from her palm. Ryo ducked out of the way and spun his sword back to it's standard grip and gripped it in both hands. he charged the blade with dark energy and unleashed a barrage of dark slashes, forcing Dusk onto the defensive.

Seeing an opening, Ryo darted forward and snuck his blade up to Dusk's neck.

"Victory goes to Ryo! A masterful performance!"

Ryo and Dusk bowed to the crowd and left the arena.

"We will have a twenty-minute break, then we will have the next set of six matches!"

Ryo immediately went to the statue where he was supposed to meet his friends. They were all there, save Terrek and Phoenix. Shiori was still busy congratulating Leith and Tempest for moving on to the next round.

"That was fantastic! I can't wait to see what you'll be pulling off when we get deeper into the tournament!"

Ryo smiled and shrugged.

"I really wanted to use that trick I used during that spar with Terrek, but I didn't want to go too deep into my bag of tricks yet. But can you imagine her face if I caught her fist and then sent her flying?"

Shiori nodded.

"It's best to save the flashy stuff for when you really need it. I still don't like how risky that move is though. I mean seriously, one miss-step and you'll be in for a world of pain!"

Ryo shrugged again before noticing Terrek and Phoenix approaching.

"I really wish I could have been in the opening fight! Still, that Magnus guys seems pretty impressive!"

Lieth nodded.

"Using an opponents power to defeat them is a skill, but Magnus is naturally attuned to that fighting style. It's certainly brings new meaning to 'offence is a good defence'."

The others agreed. Terrek was smirking a little.

"That guy that Sander beat was pretty bitter about being defeated by him. He looked absolutely livid until they announced the break."

The others could imagine that. They talked a little longer before it was time to return to their stations to watch the next matches in round one. This tournament was only beginning.

* * *

 **Oh, how I love writing this story. Now, we're probably going to be doing some time jumping so that we don't have to narrate every match in the tournament.**

 **Creativity: The audience is just going to accuse you of being lazy.**

 **Author: Yeah, no. I doubt they want to sit through a whole bunch of battles that 3/4s of don't matter.**

 **Well, I guess I'll see ya next week!**


	5. Ch4(sample)

**We're Back!**

 **Creativity: It is good to be back at work.**

 **Author: Not that they know what we're talking about. Heh heh heh.**

 **In all seriousness, we're working on the Godzilla project primarily as of this writing. By the time this story comes out, we might already be finished that, or at least close to it. Heck, KH III will be out by then, so we might have more material to work with in future chapters. Anyway, we just finished the Halloween special and thought we'd add a fourth chapter to this little side project. It isn't the only side project we've been working on, but it has received the least attention for a while.**

 **I like to have a backlog of at least five chapters before I start uploading, minimum. This one will likely have more than that, but what can I say? Writing takes time and energy, which the human animal does not have an infinite supply of, and I like to be able to pace myself and keep a consistent update schedule.**

 **Wow this has been a long opening bit. It's really more of me talking about my writing process and possible upcoming stories than anything else. Please don't get too hyped.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, just enjoy our other stuff until then!**

 **Author: Ok, that was pretty shameless.**

 **Creativity: NO REGRETS!**

* * *

Ryo sat in his seat eagerly. Shiori's fight was next and he couldn't wait. She was fighting another girl by the name of Dawn. She was Dusk's twin sister and fought with a staff. Staff wielders fought primarily with ranged, elemental attacks over melee combat, though there were exceptions. The Water Elder fought with a staff and was regarded as one of the finest close-quarter fighters in history.

Ryo had enough confidence in Shiori's abilities that she would claim victory, but he knew she would be hard pressed for it. He had fought Dawn in a practice session once and she had been no pushover. She was exceptionally talented at constructs, which Ryo struggled with. At best, he could create a basic broadsword if he had time to prepare himself, but Dawn could erect a miniature fortress around herself if she was pushed to it.

Shiori summoned her katana and settled into a crouching stance. Sunlight glinted off the flat of her blade. Opposite to her, Dawn summoned her staff, which was white and gold and had a sky-blue orb set on top of it. She let it float a few inches away from her hand, spinning it slowly before she grabbed it and caused the gem to start glowing. She then held it horizontally in front of her while reaching her other hand behind her.

"Begin!"

Dawn immediately leapt backwards, launching a volley of light spheres at Shiori. Shiori simply sidestepped them before launching a blast from her katana before surging forward, launching darts of golden energy from her empty palm. Dawn spun her staff in front of her, batting away the darts before slamming her staff into the ground, causing pillars of light to erupt from the ground, heading straight towards Shiori. Shiori didn't look worried in the slightest. She held her katana in front of her, swiping it to the side and launching forward at a breakneck pace, surrounded by golden energy! She zig-zagged between the pillars before slamming her sword against Dawn's staff. Ryō was surprised that Dawn had reacted in time to block, though that wouldn't do her much good. Shiori was exactly where she wanted to be.

Dawn shoved Shiori back before creating two sword constructs that began to orbit around her. Shiori merely levelled her blade at Dawn before drawing it to the side and surging forward again! Dawn brought both constructs in front of her, as well as summoning more, all pointed at Shiori. Seeing this, Shiori stabbed her blade into the ground and let go, using the drag to launch herself over the constructs. She resummoned her katana before slamming into Dawn and knocking her to the ground. She levelled her blade at Dawn's throat, claiming victory.

"Shiori claims victory! Incredible precision on display!"

Shiori bowed to the crowd and helped Dawn to her feet before they left the stadium. Next up was the water match. Into the arena stepped two boys. One was significantly taller than the other, and much beefier. In addition to this, his clothing was comprised over more silver and icy blue than the usual darker blue. His opponent was of average build and wore a more… standard color pallet, though his choice of clothing looked more similar to Tempest. His feet were wrapped with bandages, as were his forearms and calves. He wore a sleeveless tunic and a silver circlet around his forehead. The larger of the two summoned his weapon, which was a massive, two-handed axe-hammer hybrid that looked encrusted with ice. His opponent summoned a strange pair of weapons that looked like someone had mounted symmetrical axe-blades on a shaft as they would a spear. The blades themselves were silver, though the rest of the weapon was a deep, ocean blue. Ryo could also see small indents along the shaft of the weapon, as well as a chain patterning along the sides, but it appeared only decorative. The smaller one spun the blades a few times to loosen up before falling into a ready position. His opponent hefted the axe-hammer over his shoulder and gripped the weapon in one hand before hunching over, free arm lowered to the ground.

"Fight!"

Immediately, the larger one leapt into the air, heaving the axe-hammer around and slamming the axe end into the ground, sending a wave of ice towards his opponent! Said opponent charged forward, weapons held to his side before drawing them back and thrusting them forward! As soon as they pierced the ice wave, he swung them diagonally in front of him from the thrust and carved away the ice in his path! As soon his feet touched the ground, he swung his weapons around in a circle. Ryo could see the ice behind the boy turn into water before and surge back around, following the blades in an arc. Ryo could see that the water was compressing into a blade and frosting at the edges. The larger one slammed the shaft of his axe-hammer into the ground, causing a wall of ice to rise in front of him. The frosting water struck the wall and broke upon it before the larger one leapt from behind the wall and slammed the hammer-end of his weapon into the ground, causing a shockwave, as well as creating a sheet of ice over the ground behind the shockwave! The smaller of the two leapt over the shockwave, only to land on a much slicker surface than before. By the time he had his bearings again, the axe-hammer was already at his throat.

"Victory to Glacieor! Stunning use of brain and brawn!"

Ryo applauded the victor and waited eagerly for the next pair. He grinned as he saw Phoenix walk onto the field, Halberd slung over her shoulder. Her opponent was significantly larger than her, wielding a one-handed battle-axe that looked like it hadn't been carved out of an active volcano. Ryo suddenly remembered fighting this guy before. He was Volcan's nephew, Ero and he was no pushover, courtesy of his unrelenting training regimen. People used to wonder whether or not he was the first to be born with the ability to control two elements, since he was one of few who were capable of causing artificial eruptions, and he was said to be the most talented in history at the technique. Ryo was now very concerned. He believed that Phoenix had a shot, but she'd have to take control of the fight fast, otherwise Ero would have the reigns from beginning to end. In his favour.

"Fight!"

Immediately, Phoenix charged forward, launching wave after wave of flame from her halberd. Ero slammed his axe into the ground, sending a wave of magma hurtling towards Phoenix! She leapt over it and surrounded herself with fire before turning herself parallel to the ground and spinning like a log as she hurtled towards Ero. The glowing portions of Ero's axe began to glow ever brighter as he leapt out of the way of Phoenix, who slammed her halberd where he had just been standing. As he was airborne, Ero hurled his axe towards Phoenix, who leapt away, using a jet of flame to propel her further. As the axe struck the ground, it released a pulse of fire magic so powerful, it turned the surrounding area into a blackened, cracked magma pit! The axe vanished and reappeared in Ero's hand as he landed and charged towards Phoenix, who was also charging, her halberd a fiery blur as she performed another whirling leap towards Ero! However, just as she was about to strike, he leapt over her and prepared to throw his axe again. However, Phoenix had been baiting him to do this. As she swiped her halberd in what many had anticipated, she kept going in a circle, knocking the axe away and performing one last spin before throwing her halberd at Ero, leaping after him as she did! Ero hurriedly resummoned his axe to guard against the rapidly approaching, spinning halberd, but as he knocked it away, a jet of flame struck him in the face, blurring his vision! Phoenix smirked as she spun and planted her boot on his chest as they slammed into the ground before resummoning her halberd and leveling it at his throat.

"Victory to Phoenix! What a feint!"

Phoenix looked very pleased with herself, but Ero seemed to take this loss well. Next up was an air match. This was between a boy and a girl. Ryo winced when he saw them. Their names were Cylo and Braes, respectively. They also hated each other's guts. Ryo didn't really know why, but he'd seen enough shouting matches and a fair few actual all out brawls between them. The matches had to have been random because no one in their right mind would want them fighting each other. He just hoped that those on hand for if the match got out of control were quick, because he had little doubt that, with the excuse of this match, they would out for blood.

Cylo summoned a pair of sickles attached to chains that wrapped around his arm. The sickles sparked threateningly as he raised the in preparation. Braes summoned a spear with a tip made of intertwined lightning bolts. In the center of the bolts was a small sphere containing a miniature electric storm. Ryo shrank back in his seat, preparing for it to get ugly.

"Fight!"

Immediately, Braes unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning towards Cylo, who sidestepped it and created a storm cloud around Braes. She began spinning her spear above her head, creating a controlled cyclone to push the cloud away. However, Cylo was already where he wanted to be. He was perched on top of one of the pillars near Braes. He leapt off the pillar and threw one of his sickles at Braes as be began spinning the other one, a small cyclone appearing around it that crackled with electricity. Braes leapt sideways to avoid the sickle and unleashed a torrent of electricity from her spear in response! Cylo threw his second sickle forward, unleashing the cyclone ahead of him as a barrier to stop Braes' attack. He used the air to maneuver down to the ground and threw one of his sickles again before charging up a wheel of electricity using his other sickle. Ryo leaned forward. It seemed that Cylo had taken control of the fight.

Braes however, had a look of cold determination as she batted away the sickle. She charged forward, the sphere in her spear beginning to glow a vivid electric blue. Ryo prepared to shield his eyes. He'd seen this before when Tempest had dragged him to an air wielder demonstration. If it connected, it wasn't going to be pretty.

Cylo launched the electric wheel forward, only to be gobsmacked as Braes drew that electricity into her spear. Once she felt she was close enough, she thrust her spear forward and a terrific bolt of lighting erupted from her spear! Cylo was sent hurtling backwards, into a large boulder, creating a massive crack in it. Ryo had a feeling there was a couple of bone fractures present in his shoulders, ribs and possibly his spine. In an instant, Braes was in front of him, spear levelled at his throat.

"Victory to Braes! A shocking turnaround!"

Ryo had a feeling that Braes was about to get a talking to from someone regarding excessive force, but it looked like Cylo wasn't that hurt. Braes hadn't done anything particularly illegal, but she had skirted the edge of it. Hopefully this match would take some of the edge off of both of them, but he somehow doubted it.

Next up was the earth battle. Ryo grinned like a madman when Terrek walked onto the field, his club-axe held on his shoulder. His opponent walked out next, a girl named Teca. Her weapon was a broadsword that seemed composed of a mish-mash of ores and unrefined gemstones. Ryo had fought her before and had won handily, but that was when they were both beginners. He had a feeling that she had a few new tricks up her sleeve now.

"Fight!"

Teka immediately sank her sword into the ground, causing spires of rock to erupt around Terrek, who swung his weapon in a circle around himself, smashing the spires apart and rushing forward, weapon dragging behind him. He then leapt into the air and performed a similar move to Teka's opener, thrusting his weapon into the ground! However, it was massive roots that erupted from the ground and began to wrap around Teka instead of stone. Teka leapt away before the roots could snag her and charged towards Terrek. As she did, pieces of stone began to float in the air and fly towards her sword. By the time she reached Terrek, her sword had doubled in length and width, though it looked incredibly fragile. She leapt into the air and swung her sword down at Terrek, who clutched his own weapon in both hands and performed an uppercut swing, meeting Teka's attack head-on! The result was the upgrade to Teka's blade being utterly destroyed and Teka being sent flying back. Terrek leapt into the air after her, weapon held high. Teka saw him coming and spun around, throwing her sword towards the ground. As soon as it struck, a massive stone blade erupted from the ground, heading straight for them! Teka turned and avoided the blade, rotating so that she could slide down the blade, summoning her sword back to herself before leaping away from the blade. Meanwhile, Terrek was preparing for one hell of a swing. Rearing his weapon back, he swung the weapon around and hit the blade right on the point, sending a shockwave out that destroyed the rest of the blade!

As he landed, he saw Teka bearing down on him. Smirking, he braced the flat of his weapon on his arm deflected the blow around him, causing Teka to lose her balanced, a result of overcommitting her strike. Terrek stomped his foot on the ground, causing a mini tremor, throwing Teka's balanced off more before moving in for the winning blow. Teka finally regained her footing when she looked up, only to find the axe blade of Terrek's weapon resting on her shoulder.

"Victory goes to Terrek! Ground-shaking and level-headed!"

Ryo clapped vigorously as Terrek bowed and helped Teka to her feet before leaving the stadium. Next up was the darkness match.

Ryo watched as two girls walked into the arena. He recognized both of them. Their names were Shade and Eclipse, respectively.

Shade was rather short and thin for her age and fought with two slim, elegant blades that were a bit shorter than machetes. Eclipse was about standard height, but much more buff than Shade. Her weapon was a standard broadsword and a shield. Her shield wasn't like Magnus', in that it could absorb strikes to charge it for an attack, but it was able to increase in radius and transform into other forms of shield, be it a small buckler or a miniature wall between herself and her opponent. Ryo had never fought Eclipse before, but he had fought Shade and he knew that she was a very tricky opponent. However, the seemingly limitless ways the Eclipse could use her shield were going to force Shade to get creative, even for her.

The two of them took up ready positions and waited.

"Fight!"

Surprisingly, Eclipse made the first move; launching a horizontal arc of dark energy from her sword. Shade did a simple leap over the arc before unleashing a barrage of her own blasts from her blades, advancing step by step as she did. Eclipse had her shield morph into a large, boxy shield and moved sideways, waiting until she felt the arcs stop striking her shield. Then she spun and swiped her sword, launching another arc. However, Shade had vanished! Eclipse started looking around, morphing her shield into a large, round shape and constantly keeping it covering a blind spot. Then she heard a noise and saw an arc of dark energy hurtling towards her! She dodged sideways, only to realize that the blast wasn't meant for her. The arc cut clean through a large section of rock, causing it to tumble into one of the elevated pools of water. The water rushed over the sides of the pool and into a magma pit, causing an eruption of steam. Ryo leaned forward. Seeing as Leith had won using that tactic earlier, Eclipse would likely not fall prey to it as easily. And that aside, Eclipse would be expecting this sort of tactic from Shade.

Ryo could see Shade leaping from one elevated position to another, looking for the right angle of attack. Eclipse wasn't making it easy. She had started projecting a small shield around herself that, while rather easy to break through, would immediately inform Eclipse of where Shade was attacking from, and would rob Shade of some of her momentum.

Shade leapt around until she was right behind Eclipse and threw one of her blades towards Eclipse's back as she leapt clean over her and slung around a post to rocket back towards Eclipse, blade poised to strike. Eclipse batted the blade away and turned to see Shade hurtling towards her! She raised her shield to block, but Shade had anticipated this and angled her attack accordingly. Instead of slamming into the shield, Shade hit the ground and rolled before leaping up and angling the blade for an uppercut strike! However, Eclipse realized what Shade was about to do and spun sideways to avoid the strike and slammed her shield into Shade, throwing her away before Eclipse charged after her for a follow-up.

Shade resummoned her other blade and redirected Eclipse's slash around her before rolling like a log around and performing a roundhouse kick to throw Eclipse further off. Shade rushed forward and swept both of her blades up to Eclipse's neck.

"Victory to Shade! Impressive misdirection and improvisation on display!"

Ryo applauded as Shade bowed and departed from the arena with Eclipse.

"There will be another twenty-minute break before the next set of matches!"

Ryo hurried out of the arena to the same meeting place as before. Terrek was already there, and with Teka as well! Ryo hurried over and saw Phoenix on her way over as well.

"Hey, nice match!" Ryo called to Terrek once he was close enough. Terrek nodded.

"That last trick with the giant sword caught me off guard." He responded, lightly cuffing Teka in the shoulder. She pushed him in response, a light grin on her face.

"So, I take it you know each other outside of training?" Ryo asked politely. Terrek nodded.

"We're cousins." Teka responded. Now Ryo could see some resemblance, especially with the short responses.

By now, the rest of the group had shown up. Shiori still had a grin on her face from her victory, as did Phoenix. They spent the majority of the break congratulating each other on making it through round one, as well as musing on who their opponents in the next round were going to be. There were two more rounds until the round two, and then the championship match would be the third round. Those who made it to round three were automatically qualified to study at the Sanctum, but that still left the opportunity to claim the bragging rights.

Soon enough, it was time to return to seats and prepare for the third set of battles. Ryo settled in, eagerly awaiting the opening match.

* * *

 **Well, that wraps up chapter 4! We're gonna be jumping to second round next chapter, because I don't want to write an excessive number of fight chapters, and I don't think you want to read them either.**

 **Creativity: By this point, previous readers are just waiting for us to try and yank the carpet out from under them. And I doubt we can get another carpet yank after the last ones.**

 **Author: True, but I'll still go for it anyway!**

 **Also, for a visual reference as to how Glacieor's opponent's weapon appears, look up Bionicle Nokama. I modelled the weapons after her hydroblades. Glacieor's weapon is modelled after Infinity War's Stormbreaker, though it's bigger.**

 **Well, that's enough for this week! See ya in the next!**


	6. Ch5(sample)

**Good day to you all! So, as of this writing, I have just recently seen Solo: A Star Wars Story, and I thought it was perfectly fine. I found Han's character to be about what I expected and the movie delivered on what it was supposed to be, in my opinion, that being it was heist movie. That's honestly what I see these Star Wars Story movies to be, just making a movie of a specific genre within the Star Wars movie. Rogue One was a war movie, Solo was a heist movie, so I can't wait to see the next movie type they make is going to be. Also, really hoping for a Kenobi movie, along with the rest of the world.**

 **Creativity: And the cameo at the end.**

 **Author: Yeah, that was awesome.**

 **Anyway, so now we are moving into the next round of fights to go to the story's version of University. Well, more like a really nice University. That you have to fight your way into. Though if you think about it, it might not be so different from real life.**

 **Okay, that's just gibberish. So, we're going to be having them all have their matches first and then we're getting into the real meat of the story!**

 **Creativity: Yes… Is glorious.**

 **Author: You're doing it again…**

 **Creativity: Doing what?**

 **Author: Oh, nothing… SECURITY!**

 **We apologize for the interruption. Your regularly scheduled chapter will begin momentarily.**

* * *

Ryo rolled his shoulders as he took his seat in the participants box. It was the next day of the tournament and he was buzzing with nervous energy. This was it. If he won his next fight, he'd have secured a position within the Sanctum. To say he was nervous now was an understatement.

Shaking his head, Ryo refocused his attention on the match that was about to start. Shiori was up first, facing Lyn from the opening match. Lyn summoned her naginata and twirled it a few times before holding it behind her, her empty hand held upright, palm towards Shiori. Shiori summoned her katana and gripped it with both hands, held to the right and parallel to her body. The two of them stared each other down, waiting for the word.

"Fight!"

Lyn's wings erupted from her back as she leapt into the air, her naginata becoming a whirlwind of motion and light before she unleashed a rapid-fire wave of energy arcs down on Shiori! Shiori's eyes widened and she slammed her blade into the ground, causing a dome of translucent gold energy to surround her! The arcs slammed into the shield over and over until it began to glow even brighter until it erupted in a golden flash! Lyn shielded her eyes as best she could, while trying to keep an eye on Shiori. Unfortunately, Shiori had already ducked into cover and was sneaking around to take shot at Lyn from the ground.

Shiori darted out from cover, a sphere of gold energy in her hand before her own wings appeared in a flash of light! She took to the air swiftly, launching the sphere ahead of her as she went. Lyn slashed the sphere with her weapon, but that only caused another flash to distract her. Before she new it, Shiori was above her, katana held at the ready. She swung the blade down towards Lyn, who saw Shiori out of the corner of her eye, and spun to block the attack with the shaft of her naginata. However, Shiori now had a new advantage and immediately began to force Lyn towards the ground. Lyn gritted her teeth as she was forced closer and closer to the arena below.

Finally, she managed to throw Shiori off and flared her wings to stop her fall. Shiori looped around and forced Lyn to stay on the ground as she landed and began pressuring her with her sword, unleashing precision strikes to expose an opening. Lyn spun her naginata at a feverish speed, trying to take back the offensive. But Shiori wouldn't have it. She made two more swipes to draw Lyn's attention to the edge of her naginata before thrusting her sword forward and flicking it in the opposite direction of naginata's rotation, causing it to slip from Lyn's hands! Shiori swiped her blade up to Lyn's throat, claiming victory.

"Victory to Shiori! Incredible precision on display, once again!"

Shiori bowed to the crowd and walked out of the arena with Lyn, who looked mildly disappointed. Ryo was still clapping as the arena was prepared for the next match. Much to his delight, Leith was up next. Her opponent was Glacieor, who already had his axe-hammer at the ready. Leith summoned her weapon and settled into her standard battle stance.

"Fight!"

Immediately, Glacieor swung his weapon in an uppercut strike, sending a miniature hailstorm towards Leith! Leith danced out of the way, creating massive balls of ice as she did so. Once she had close to a dozen, she lunged forward with the massive hailstones orbiting around her! Glacieor prepared his weapon for defence as Leith leapt into the air and threw her weapon like a javelin at him. As she did so, she launched the orbiting boulders of ice towards her opponent, causing them to veer off and approach from different angles of attack. Glacieor didn't seem worried. Instead, he spun his weapon into a backhanded grip and drove the business end of his axe-hammer into the ground, causing a massive pillar of ice to lift him to safety! Leith resummoned her blade and caused a pale blue ice to wrap around the blades, dramatically extending their reach and width. She then cleaved through the pillar and leapt upwards as it began to topple over, rearing her blade back to strike at Glacieor. However, he was prepared for this and brought his axe-hammer around to meet her strike, smashing through the ice she had wrapped around her blades and sending her flying backwards. Leith summoned her wings and looped around before creating several water lances and sending them flying at Glacieor. Glacieor merely dodged to the side as they approached, but failed to notice Leith closing in on him rapidly until she was right on top of him! She began to whirl her blade like a sawblade, unleashing bursts of ice and water at a rapid pace, forcing him onto the back foot until she drove his axe-hammer down and froze it in place before leaping over him, kicking him in the head as she went and leaving her weapon resting on his shoulder.

"Victory goes to Leith! A surprising display of ferocity!"

Ryo had to agree. Leith had been rather uncharacteristically ferocious during that fight, especially at the end. Had Leith been practicing that sort of fast, aggressive fighting style in secret? It made some sense, as was normally much more subtle and calculating when fighting, sans the hailstones. However, the hailstones were often a deterrent of misdirect to cover her next move.

Ryo's musings were swept away when he realized that the next match was coming up. He was surprised to see Phoenix was next, facing off against Magnus. Magnus raised his shield to the ready and held his sword up behind him. Phoenix twirled her halberd and settled into her standard battle stance, a light smirk on her lips.

"Fight!"

Phoenix immediately leapt into the air, her wings materializing in a plume of flame as she covered the distance between them in a single bound, weapon held aloft to strike! Magnus braced his shield arm for the strike as Phoenix wrapped herself and her weapon in flame before swinging the weapon downward, smashing against Magnus' shield, causing a blast of flame to erupt from between the two combatants! Phoenix used Magnus' shield to vault over him and swung her halberd around to trip him, but Magnus jabbed his sword into the ground, stopping the weapon dead. She immediately turned and swung it around herself before trying another overhead strike, but Magnus blocked it with his shield. Phoenix immediately switched tactics, swiping the spear point on the bottom of her halberd upwards to slash at Magnus. This seemed to work and Magnus backpedalled as he wouldn't have been able to block with his sword or shield, but immediately re-centered himself and began pressuring Phoenix with his sword, beginning a string of slashes and stabs that forced her backwards, twirling her halberd to block the onslaught. Finally, she had enough and slammed her halberd into the ground, causing a wave of fire to erupt from the ground! Magnus ducked behind his shield and Phoenix took the opportunity to leap over him and try her hand at another slash. However, Magnus turned just in time to see it coming and leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack! Phoenix charged forward, weapon held behind her. Her smirk even wider. She saw Magnus readying his shield and immediately raised her weapon and slammed it into the ground, using it to vault up and over Magnus. By the time she was airborne, Magnus had unleashed all the energy stored in his shield, creating a blast a good deal more destructive than the one he had unleashed during his first match. It was so powerful, that it actually caused Magnus to skid back a few feet, right into the path of Phoenix's descent. She had her feet already pointed right at his face! Magnus was kicked to the ground, had his sword knocked away and his shield pinned to the ground before Phoenix levelled her halberd at his neck.

"Victory goes to Phoenix! An excellent last feint for victory!"

Ryo applauded vigorously. He had been concerned that Phoenix would lose the match, since her incredibly aggressive combat style typically would spell an instant win for someone like Magnus. However, it seemed Phoenix played into that and allowed him to build up charge before baiting him into using it at a seemingly opportune moment, when it was just providing her with the setup for a win. He had to admit, he didn't see that coming. Phoenix was much more intelligent than people would think from her fighting style, but even those who knew her well could be caught off guard.

Next up was the air match. Tempest walked onto the battlefield, along with Braes. Tempest summoned his gauntlets and hopped from foot to foot before settling into his battle stance. Braes summoned her spear and settled into her own stance. Ryo didn't exactly have the best view, but he could see well enough that Braes seemed to be regarding Tempest with some contempt. Ryo could only shake his head. For as powerful as Braes was, and she was powerful to be sure, Tempest already had this match won.

"Fight!"

Immediately, Tempest began rushing to the left, using his cyclone trick. Braes immediately began tracking him with her spear, before finally discharging a bolt of lightning that left a small, smoking crater when it missed. Tempest grinned like a maniac as he accelerated, whipping around the battlefield as Braes tried to hit him with singular bolts of lightning. Eventually, just after a narrow miss, Tempest suddenly changed direction and bore down on Braes, who snarled as she began aiming her spear for another lightning bolt. However, Tempest was already right on top of her, unleashing a flurry of blows with his claws. Braes grit her teeth as she spun her spear and pivoted alternatively as Tempest spun around her, swiping his claws at a feverish pace! Ryo could see that Braes was tiring, but he also saw something else. Desperation.

Braes' body began to crackle with electricity before she snarled and slammed the shaft of her spear into the ground, causing a pulse of electricity that threw Tempest away from her. She spun and launched another lightning bolt at Tempest, believing him stunned. However, Tempest had already recovered and his wings had appeared in a burst of thunder-clouds. He smirked as he performed a showy loop before rocketing off even faster than before! He shot straight up before stalling and going into a stoop, hurtling downwards at breakneck speeds! Braes' eyes widened and she began unleashing a torrent of lightning from her spear, trying desperately to force him off course. However, Tempest wasn't aiming directly for her. Once he felt he was close enough to the ground, he turned and flared his wings, turning almost all of his vertical momentum into horizontal momentum and charging his body with electricity! He slammed into Braes with unbelievable force and sent her flying into a nearby rock formation! She started to rise, but fell to one knee, teeth bared in frustration. The next thing she knew, Tempest had one of his claws resting above her head.

"Victory goes to Tempest! What a daredevil finale!"

Ryo let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He should have figured Tempest would pull a stunt like this, but that was a little bit nuts, even for him. He looked as Tempest helped Braes out of the arena, who looked a little dazed, but still frustrated by her loss. Ryo shook his head. Like he'd predicted, Tempest had won handily. Braes was a powerhouse, but she was predictable and preferred using singular attacks as opposed to strings of them. That, coupled with her obvious fondness for ranged combat put Tempest in a position for an easy win.

Next up was the earth match. Ryo watched as Terrek walked onto the field. His opponent was Sander, who was already gripping his hatchets tightly. He seemed a bit nervous. Ryo couldn't blame him. Though Terrek was not quite as imposing as Sander's previous opponent, he was much smarter and wouldn't fall for the same tricks. Terrek hefted his weapon over his shoulder and settled into a crouch. Sander twirled his hatchets before holding them out in front of him, a slight bend in his knees.

"Fight!"

Sander immediately slammed his hatchets into the ground, causing pillars of rock to start erupting from the ground, heading towards Terrek! Terrek charged forward, leaping over the incoming pillars before grasping his weapon in both hands and heaving it over his head before throwing it, like one would throw an axe. The weapon hurtled through the air towards Sander! Sander leapt sideways as the weapon smashed into the ground where he had been standing, creating a ripple through the earth that threw Sander for a loop! Terrek landed beside his weapon and pried it loose before whirling around and bracing his arm against the flat of his weapon as Sander attempted to retaliate. The hatchets glanced off his weapon, which Terrek then twisted and swung, forcing Sander to retreat! Sander's wings appeared in a flash of leaves and stone and he retreated to what he believed to be a safe distance. Terrek narrowed his eyes as Sander perched atop one of the many wood pillars that dotted the arena. He then slammed his hatchets together, causing a brief flash of light! Ryo's eyes widened when he saw what Sander had done. In place of his hatchets was a battle-axe that looked like a perfect fusion of his hatchets. However, it was noticeably larger than the hatchets and a tad more ornate. Ryo had read about fusion weapons before, but he hadn't seen any in training. They were remarkably rare, though there were telltale signs of one. Fusion weapons weren't possible without a minimum of two weapons to fuse. Strangely enough, they were more common when the weapons weren't mirrors of each other.

Ryo's attention was brought back to the fight when he saw Sander leap from the pillar when Terrek sliced it in two. Sander landed on the ground and dodged as Terrek let loose with another swipe. He rolled and leapt forward with his axe held aloft. Terrek maintained the momentum of his previous swing and twisted the weapon before bracing his arm against the flat of the weapon. The end of the weapon slammed into Sander's axe like the flat side of an oar, sending Sander hurtling back!

Terrek was after Sander in a heartbeat, weapon poised to strike! Sander leapt backwards and hurled his axe, which began to glow a dark green. Large stones began being pulled along behind the axe, though Terrek just leapt over the incoming projectiles. Sander's eyes widened and he slammed his palm against the ground before leaping back again. Terrek slammed into the ground, only to find it had been turned into quagmire! Terrek snarled as he began prying himself loose from the muck as Sander rushed forward, axe primed for a final strike! Terrek swung his weapon around and thrust into the swampy earth, causing a pillar of stone to erupt from the ground and lift him free! Sander slashed the pillar as he approached it to avoid being pasted. Terrek noticed that Sander was now vulnerable and leapt to take advantage of this. He leapt from the crumbling pillar and slammed his weapon into the ground, causing several spires of earth to erupt from the ground and cage Sander, leaving his head exposed! Before he knew it, Sander had Terrek's weapon resting on his shoulder.

"Victory goes to Terrek! Pulling free from defeat to seize victory!"

Ryo applauded Terrek as he broke open the stone cage that he had trapped Sander in before bowing to the audience and departing from the arena. Ryo noted that Terrek had taken to using more shockwave based attacks and defences recently, though it was entirely possible that he was doing that now that he had a bigger battlefield to work with. Most of their combat lessons were in smaller, more confined spaces, such as the sandpit.

Ryo stood up as it was now his turn. He was facing off against Shade. Ryo summoned his sword and settled into his battle stance. Shade summoned her own blades, spinning one into a backhanded grip and holding it in front of her while holding her second blade out to her side. Her eyes fixed on him with a cold glare.

"Fight!"

Shade shot forward, dark energy trailing behind her as her blades began to glow purple. Ryo gripped his sword with both hands and dug his feet in as Shade leapt into the air and dove at him, slashing with both her blades! Ryo swung his sword upward to meet her, flinging her overtop of him. Shade merely rolled and carried her momentum into another sprint, changing direction by digging a blade into the ground. Ryo's wings erupted from his back and he leapt into the air, flying to a wooden pillar and perching atop it before charging a sphere of dark energy in his hand. His eyes carefully tracked Shade's every move until she finally charged his position, launching bolts of dark energy from her blades! Ryo thrust his palm forward, launching dozens of dark projectiles from the sphere! They flew in non-linear patterns, but they all homed in on Shade regardless. Shade's eyes narrowed and she began ducking and dodging, deflecting and slashing, anything she could do to avoid being hit by the projectiles. When she had destroyed them all, she looked to see Ryo hurtling down towards her, sword held aloft and wrapped in dark energy. She leapt backwards as he thrust the blade into the ground, causing a shockwave of dark energy to erupt from the sword! Shade slashed through the shockwave and charged towards Ryo, blades reared back to strike! She swung his left blade towards him in a backhanded grip, striking true! But the blade stopped. Her blade was pressed straight against his palm. She looked to see that Ryo had encased his entire arm in dark energy, which was acting like incredibly durable body armor. Ryo's arm began to glow as he smirked before all of the energy he'd been containing in that area was unleashed upon Shade! Shade was thrown back and was rather disoriented, but not for long. Ryo pried his sword loose and it began to glow with dark power. Shade's own blades began glowing, though not quite as powerfully. She began stalking towards Ryo, who twirled his blade with a bit of flourish and swung it downward, launching an arc of energy towards Shade. Shade dodged around it and charged, weapons ready to strike. Ryo swung again and met her blades in a clash that sent a shockwave of dark energy out from the locked weapons! He shoved his sword against her blades for a few long moments before leaping backwards and launching a blast from his palm. Shade had been caught off balanced and the blast hit her square in the stomach, knocking her back. Ryo charged forward, knocking her blades to the side before spinning and slamming the back of his sword into her stomach, knocking her onto her back. He levelled his sword at her throat, claiming victory!

"Victory goes to Ryo! Incredible use of augmentation abilities!"

Ryo bowed to the audience and helped Shade to her feet before they left the arena. He couldn't believe it! He'd made it! He was qualified to study within the Sanctum! If he won the championship title, that would be icing on the cake, but nothing more.

"There will be a twenty-minute break before the next round begins!"

Ryo immediately rushed to the usual meeting spot from the previous five rounds. Shiori, Tempest and Leith were already there.

"We all made it!" Ryo half-shouted with glee. The others were just as ecstatic as he was. Soon they were joined by Terrek and Phoenix, the latter of which had an enormous grin plastered all over her face.

"Now all we gotta do is win the champion rounds!" Phoenix said in a contagiously enthusiastic voice. Terrek shrugged.

"I'm content with having made it this far and simply qualifying for study at the Sanctum, but that would be incredible." Terrek stated. Ryo nodded.

"It's gonna be incredible to study there. I can't wait until the tournament is over and we get to officially begin!" Ryo exclaimed with glee.

They kept talking for a while before they were called back to see the next round for entry into the Sanctum. Then there would be a break for the second day and they would head come back the next day for the final rounds.

Then it would be off to the Sanctum, where their training would truly begin.

* * *

 **And that's where we're gonna leave it for today. Sorry to disappoint, but we won't be going to be seeing the championships. Oh, you'll hear about them, but we won't be writing them out in detail. You've already had three whole chapters devoted to it and I'm tired of writing them.**

 **Creativity: It gets boring after a while.**

 **Author: No kidding. Next time, we'll be picking up in the sanctum. When exactly it'll be, I haven't decided yet, but it won't be the first day. We're getting into the… meatier part of the story. The stuff I've been wanting to write about for a while, but needed to do some setup for. I hope you all have enjoyed thus far.**

 **Well, that's enough of that! See ya next week!**


	7. Mild Exasperation

**Good day to you all! Now, for those of you who skipped over the Primer chapter, DO NOT SKIP THIS! IT IS IMPORTANT!**

 **I've had a few people asking me when Kingdom Hearts: Beyond Time, Star Wars: Twilight Blade or Ragnarok will be updated or asking me to 'please update *insert sample story here* soon' to which I can only shake my head in exasperation, since it automatically reveals who skipped the IMPORTANT PRIMER and went straight to the main event.**

 **So, I will say this one more time:**

 **Kingdom Hearts: Beyond Time, Star Wars: Twilight Blade and Ragnarok are currently early drafts of stories I will be publishing after my current project (A Very Bad Idea) concludes in March. Which story will take center stage is entirely up the Poll on my profile, where you can vote for one of the three aforementioned stories. Whichever one receives the most votes will determine which story takes focus after A Very Bad Idea concludes.**

 **Also, I have to add this because if I don't it will infuriate me to no end, if you're going to ask questions about a story I will not be updating for a while BY DESIGN, please create an account so I can at least correspond with you, since being unable to directly answer criticism except through chapter updates is very frustrating for me. Now, for that one person who reviewed Ragnarok, I'd hold off judgement on using Razorre instead of Hiccup until later. All three of these stories are part of a big plan I've been working toward for a while, and you might be able to find a few details in one of my previous stories (My first 100K one to be precise)**

 **Are we clear? Good. Now please vote for the story you want more of and check back in February! See ya then!**


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